


Starrk's Garganta

by cybermanolo



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Fake Karakura Town Arc, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:53:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23916343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cybermanolo/pseuds/cybermanolo
Summary: Starrk wakes up alone as Genryusai Yamamoto's shikai ravages fake Karakura Town. The fire could end the lives of countless of his allies and ennemies, so Starrk decides to do something before the pain of losing Lilinette takes him away.
Relationships: Coyotte Starrk & Kyouraku Shunsui, Lilynette Gingerbuck & Coyote Starrk
Comments: 19
Kudos: 67





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've never tried to include Japanese words in fics before, I hope it won't disturb from the reading ^^'

The pain radiating through his entire body was both unlike anything he had ever known, and somehow familiar in its sheer magnitude. The pain of calling for the other part of his soul and receiving no answer was the worst pain of all, though. 

When Starrk tried to move, he found to his surprise that it was possible, albeit at the price of his entire torso flaming up. It did feel like he had been speared through from the back, then being sliced clean in two across his hollow hole, which pulsated continuously with blood. Holding his own chest, he managed to crawl to a nearby collapsed building and used it to prop himself vaguely up. From there, he could see a bit of what was going on. There was no enemy near him, the battle had moved toward where Aizen and Gin’s reiatsu echoed.

Starrk sighed deeply, but the move made him cough and more blood spilled over his chest from his mouth. Well, the internal bleeding was obvious without this additional piece of evidence. The wounds on his torso had not healed at all while he was passed out. His reiatsu pool was much too depleted to heal himself. Besides, he didn’t know how to. He had never suffered such a defeat before today.

Still he wasn’t dead. Lilinette was dead.

It was the heat that had woken him. All over the fake city, great columns of fire stood erected, The source of them was the powerful old shinigami with the number one on his back. He was facing Aizen-sama, unaware of the trap Aizen had planned for this very shikai. Starrk had not slept during the explanation on Wonderweiss’ abilities and his purpose in defeating the captain of the First Division. Soon this position would become unsafe.

It seemed strange to Starrk that heat could wake him, when Lilinett’s absence weighed like the coldest burden on what was left of his soul. The gaping emptiness inside of him seemed to call on him. Following the call sounded like a most appealing option.

When Lilinette’s last wolf vanished and he could hear her voice no more, Starrk had hoped the cunning shinigami’s blade would cut his meaningless existence short. He had done his best, fighting alongside the espadas even when it was the last thing he wanted. He had failed, but Aizen-sama would still win. Wonderweiss’s sacrifice would not be in vain, Starrk knew the ancient taichou stood no chance. If luck was on his side, the flames would end his own life too. Starrk let his reiatsu expand. Yes, they were rapidly approaching the building he was leaning on.

But before the flames reached him, they would consume the life of many shinigamis laying inert in their path. Starrk could feel the taichou who defeated him so soundly’s reiatsu among those who would soon be consumed. Why did the taichou let the flames approach him without reacting? It was hard in his state, but Starrk focused. Ah, his reiatsu and that of the people close to him were even weaker than his own. They couldn’t move, and most of them were unconscious, some on the verge of dying. 

What a waste. They weren’t like him, missing the living half of their being, the will to live that spurred him on. Losing all of these lives in a battle not their own was such a meaningless waste. It was a pain to move, but he had just about enough of death.

Summoning all the strength he had left, Starrk left in a clumsy sonido heading straight to the street where the flames were about to ignite the two hollowfied shinigamis who had fought against him. He grabbed them, one under each arm, in spite of the agony holding their weight caused to his injuries. The pain in his body would soon cease to matter. Once he had prevented a few more deaths, his wounds were severe enough they would surely lead him to where lilinette was.

But just as he was leaving with slow, aching steps, a hand materialized from the rubbles and grabbed his leg. Starrk almost stumbled, causing him to gasp from the surprise more than from the hurt. At the end of the hand was a determined man with blond hair in a bob who crawled out of the rubble. His reiatsu was seeping from a bad wound cutting him from shoulder to waist. Starrk recognized him. It was not a shinigami, but one of the Vizards, like the ones he was holding. That’s right, he was the one who fought against Gin. 

“Hoy”, the injured Vizard called, “where are you going with my friends? Let go of Rose and Love!” To his surprise, he saw that it wasn’t that the man was out of reiatsu, like he first assumed, but that he had concealed it in an effort to stop him. His spirit had strength, although his body betrayed him. Considering the columns moving in their direction, he answered.

“Away from the flames. You should come too, or you’ll die.”

The Vizard laughed. “Idiot. There’s no point to that.” The hand tightened its grip on his ankle as the Vizard coughed. Despite his injuries, he had a very decent grip and wouldn’t let go. WIth two passed out men in his arms, he didn’t dare start a fight and let him speak. “Soon the fire will cover this entire town. There’s no use fleeing from Ryuujin Jakka’s shikai. Moron.” Starrk sighed. He Considered kicking the dying Vizard who called him names, but he was the only other one conscious around them, and he seemed to know what to expect from the zanpakuto whose flames would soon reach them.

“Then I’ll take them to a place that blade can’t reach.” There was a way to escape the flames, but he needed one free hand. Besides, it was hard to hold the man on his left side, what with the blood making his grip slippery. “Hold that one,” he said and ungracefully dropped the man with the star-shape hairstyle into the blond’s arms, who was forced to relinquish his death grip on his ankle.

With one free hand, he waved two fingers and tried to gauge if his wounds would prevent him from finding the way to the path that could always be found at the tip of a hollow’s finger. To his relief, a Garganta opened before them, and Starrk stepped gratefully inside. This came so naturally to him, he had barely used any of the energy he had left. This plan was not such a bad gamble. Already, on the other side of the Garganta, the air was more breathable. This could work, with a little cooperation from the man who was currently gaping at him.

“There is no ground on this side. You need to come and create one. You should have enough reiatsu to create a small platform. Can you keep those two from falling in the depth before I come back?”

“You… you could flee to Hueco Mondo from the start? What are you still doing here? For what purpose are you taking my friends?”

Stark exhaled sharply. “Aizen didn’t ask me to, if that’s what worries you. This is not part of any plan, I just think there's been enough death.”

“You’re a strange one,” the man said. But he stood up with his friend passed out over his shoulder and stepped into the garganta as he created a path of reishi. The columns of fire were almost upon them, so Starrk wasted no time to close the Garganta before opening another not far from the first, where he had felt a couple of weakening reiatsu.

“Stay here, I will catch as many of the remaining reiatsu signatures as I can.”

Before the blond could protest, Starrk stepped out, next to two bodies whose reiatsu felt very young and distraught. The one crouching was the one who fought against Harribel. The young shinigami was attempting to heal a dying female shinigami. Starrk doubted she would survive the hour, but out of respect for the fervor with which the young taichou worked on her, he would bring the two of them.

But before he took the first step, a volley of sharp ice crystals almost impaled him. He slipped and almost lost his footing, which ended up saving him from another crystal that shattered just a few inches from his ear.

“Hoy, shinigami! Don’t go killing our way out of this dead zone!” The boy in the taichou uniform turned to the Vizard shouting at him from inside of the Garganta.

“You. Don’t you know he’s one of the espadas ?” He was trembling, wether from injuries or emotion, Starrk couldn’t tell.

“Espada or not, that guy is our best ticket out of here. If you want to save that girl, you’d better do it outside Ryuujin Jakka’s range.”

This sounded like a very sensible suggestion to Starrk, but it infuriated the shinigami.

“I can protect Hinamori without help from the enemy myself! I won’t step into a trap just because you ask nicely, Vizard!”

“The real trap is those two columns that will soon converge somewhere close to here. But that girl will cease to breath long before that happens, from the heat and the ash.” Starrk pointed out.

“Hey, little taichou, if this bites us in the ass you can blame me later. But for now that espada is our best chance.’ The boy looked like he was about to protest, but the Vizard went on. ‘Except if you can somehow run otide of the range of Ryuujin Jakka with this girl without aggravating her injuries.. Or you can step into this place where the fire won’t reach.”

In the end, it was the unconscious girl who decided for them. The ash in the air made her cough softly and throw up some blood. That was actually a good sign. With her airway freed, maybe the girl would yet live. After that, the shinigami didn’t protest any more.Starrk stepped away when they approached, the situation seemed volatile enough. The shinigami did glare at him when they crossed, but once they were inside, Starrk felt a bit lighter, knowing five people were now safer. Or was that the blood loss?

The shinigami Hitsugaya-taichou, as he called himself, took over the creation of the platform of reiatsu, as he was much less injured than the Vizard, who introduced himself as Hirako. Starrk didn’t introduce himself as they organized the healing of their friends. None of them seemed to have any talent in the area, so Starrk looked on dubiously as he tried to remember where in the spatial continuity he had sensed the other reiatsu signatures. There was a trick to finding the exact right place one wished to reach from inside a Garganta, but his exhaustion meant he had to focus more than usual to find the right state of mind.

At the next place he opened a Garganta laid the two taichous he had fought against. The Garganta had opened a little too far away, his ability to locate the real world compared to the world inside the Garganta truly impaired. It might be easier to use sonido to reach his next targets and open the Garganta from there. It would use his reiatsu much more quickly, but the risk of messing up was lesser.

The two taichous had both suffered grievous wounds and seemed unconscious, but the white-haired one looked the worst of the two. It was strange though, Starrk contemplated. The white-haired taichou had fallen much earlier in the fight, yet here he found them lying right next to each other. Did the other taichou aim his fall to join him? This seemed likely, as Starrk felt the residue of a healing kido over the deep jagged wound at the center of the white-haired shinigami’s chest. The wound still seemed life-threatening though, so Starrk wasn’t sure what the man’s friend had intended to do. 

Their unconscious self suited Starrk fine for the moment, it would make the move easier. But when Starrk’s hand clenched unsteadily at the back of the first shinigami’s clothes, the one who defeated him, with the intent to haul him over one shoulder, he was suddenly caught in a forceful grasp. The force of it made him gasp, how could someone with such a weakened reiatsu be so strong? The hands that grasped his arms just over some painful gashes didn’t tremble. The sudden pain made his knee go weak and he let himself fall knee first while still holding onto the back of the man’s kimono, lest they both fell.

He met the open eyes of his adversary. They were just as sharp as in the middle of their battle. The taichou held his gaze, but after a few seconds when Starrk thought he might have to knock him out, he seemed to reach a decision and surrendered himself to unconsciousness. When his hands unclenched from his tired shoulders, he almost collapsed 

Lifting them up both at once as he had intended proved to be a challenge. They weren’t much heavier than the others before, but he was losing his blood and his strength at an alarming rate. It was a pain, but he would have to make two trips. But as he was about to drop the white-haired one, someone took the body from him. Starrk was really out of it, because the woman with the glasses and the braid who stood before him was not hiding her reiatsu. He should have sensed her. His reiatsu sensing was usually impeccable, but right now his head was spinning too much for him to keep track of each reiatsu signature in his surroundings.

“My name is Lisa. Shinji sent me”, she said. Starrk had no idea who this Shinji was.

Without a word, she stepped toward his Garganta, the second taichou cradled in her arms. Since this suited Starrk just fine, he followed her at a slower pace.

Inside the Garganta were two additional Vizards. One of them, a girl with green hair, was unconscious and laid next to the three other people who needed urgent medical attention. The other was a very muscled man with short white hair who immediately started a conversation with the woman. While the woman quickly laid down the man she carried next to them, The taichou who manipulated ice didn’t acknowledge any of them, focused as he was on his task. The girl had a few more colors on his face, so Starrk thought his dedication would pay off. 

To his dismay, Starrk was forced to keep on holding onto the man in his arms for a few minutes longer. That man was not light, and no matter how he held him, it put pressure on his wounds. But the blond Vizard, Hirako, addressed him before he could drop him next to the others. 

“Ah, espada-san. I hope you don’t mind, but I called a few of my friends! They’re going to gather the rest of the shinigamis with you.”

Starrk nodded. “That’s good. I couldn’t catch them all before Wonderweiss incinerates this town.”

The white-haired Vizard seemed surprised. “Wonderweiss? Don’t you mean the soutaichou will incinerate us?”

Starrk seemed to think. “Is the soutaichou that scarily powerful old man? If so, look. around The columns of fire are gone. Wonderweiss has sealed his fire.”

“That’s impossible!”

“It’s what Wonderweiss was created for,” Starrk said sadly. He took the opportunity to deposit his charge next to his white-haired friend. The movement pulled on his injuries, but he kept his face blank. “Wonderweiss was created for the sole purpose of sealing your leader’s shikai. But he can also release all of the power sealed inside of him in one huge explosion. This was aizen-sama’s plan and it would surely kill us all. We should hurry.”

Even talking was getting harder. If they didn’t gather everyone soon, he would close the Garganta anyway. They would need him to reopen it when it was safe, and then Starrk could finally let death take him. The thought brought him peace, so much so he forgot the pain of his numerous wounds and prepared to leave for the next location.

The woman stopped him, a shocked look visible behind her glasses. “You mean all of the flames of Ryuujin Jakka could be released at once?” Her two companions looked as shocked as her.

“Yes. That is the purpose of his existence. Aizen-sama created him for this very goal.” It was a painful truth, but Aizen-sama had asked Wonderweiss if he would help him achieve his objective, and Wonderweiss had agreed, so there was nothing Starrk object to. In hindsight, that plan was also quite reckless.

“Kensei, I will bring all of the people on the East. You go North. Espada, how long can you maintain this door?”

Starrk considered his answer. “The flames are down, there’s no risk in letting the Garganta open here. It will hold as long as I am alive to maintain it. I will take the three reiatsu signatures I sense over there”, he pointed in a direction opposite their chosen ones, “and then I will take the remaining arrancars I can find.” No one else would bother to save them. He could sense that Harribel and her fraccion’s reiatsu not too far from their position. “When I come back with them, I will close the garganta. Otherwise it might be too late.”

The Vizard who’s name he didn’t know issued a few orders. “Shinji, you’re too injured. Stay there and take care of them. Lisa, you know what to do. I’m counting on you,” he said as she left. Starrk was about to follow her, but the Vizard called after him. “We’re counting on you too, espada… just…” he looked like he didn’t know how to address the enemy who offered his help so freely. “Just be there on time. Please.”

Starrk could only nod. Before he left, a thought occurred to him. “Oh, and if you intend to kill me, wait until you’re out of the Garganta. Otherwise you might be trapped with no way out.”

The tall Vizard seemed surprised by his statement, but Starrk left in sonido before anyone could answer. Human conversations were awkward. 

He did find the three reiatsu signatures he had sensed, though there were rather far apart and using his sonido was taxing on his body. First he found the taichou who looked like a great red wolf. He was passed out, a tattooed shinigami bent over him with healing kido. He seemed alert enough to take on a defensive position when he saw him arrive, which seemed like a pain. To avoid further complications, Starrk decided to open another Garganta leading to where the Vizard and the young taichou were still tending to all the injured. Opening a Garganta from this side was much easier. The number of escapees inside of it had already increased, including a few awake shinigamis. Starrk left them do the convincing. The young man agreed to join them without protest and Starrk left them to drag the huge body of the wolf taichou themselves. 

He arrived too late for the third reiatsu signature. It was Barragan’s fraccion Nirgge, whose body vanished with the last trace of his reiatsu as Starrk reached him. There was nothing left to pay respect to, so Starrk left with an additional pain in what felt like his heart.

Shaking his head, Starrk headed for where he could sense Harribel and her fraccion. None of them were aware, the three fraccions passed out in a heap, on top of each other. Starrk thought they’d never be so close to each other if they were awake. Harribel was collapsed on top of a nearby building. His physical condition was worsening by the minute, so Starrk chose again to open a new Garganta, as it only took few of his energy and would be much more painless than dragging each body across the town.

He didn’t ask the shinigamis and Vizard to help him with his fellow arrancars though, and brought them one by one inside of the Garganta. The last one he carried was Harribel. Something stopped him though. The deepest wound on her smelled like Aizen’s blade. When Starrk managed to focus on her, he saw Aizen’s reiatsu still clinging to the edge of the cut. Did Aizen-sama cause this? He shook his head, but even that caused him to wince. He couldn’t think about the implications of his discovery right now. Time was running out. Throwing Harribel over his shoulder, he started to walk. He swayed with each step, but at least this was the last trip he had to take. However, as he was closing the space between him and the Garganta, ready to collapse in exhaustion, Aizen-sama calmly stepped between him and his goal.

Starrk stopped dumly in his tracks, too weak to think about fleeing. Aizen-sama didn’t have a scratch on him, despite his fight with all of his adversaries, all the shinigamis and Vizards he had fought, and the scary taichou with the flames. Fleeing would serve no purpose.

“Coyote Starrk,” he said with great calmness. ‘What do you think you’re doing.’

“Aizen-sama…” At a loss to what to answer, Starrk could only watch him. He was very bad at reading people, and Aizen-sama’s face was harder to read than most. But even he could hear the barely restrained anger in his calm voice. In his state, he decided, all he could do was beg for their safety. 

“Aizen-sama, please don’t be angry. Your victory is near, I thought you would not mind if a few of us escaped from your fight. There is no need for all of these people to die.”

Behind Aizen’s back, the shinigamis and the Vizards prepared to defend their position, but Starrk knew if Aizen rejected his plea, they would stand no chance. There were many of them now. Maybe if he could close the Garganta now, even with him on this side, they would find a way to survive. But Harribel was still on his back, and he didn’t want her to die with him.

“When you gain the power you seek, we will all be at your mercy, whether alive or dead. Aizen-sama, please allow us to await your judgement when you return.”

It was hard for Starrk to tell, especially since his vision was blurring around the edges, but Aizen-sama’s eyes seemed to soften, and a smile graced his lips. “Ah, I should have known you would take such an unexpected path. Among all of my espadas, you are the only one who could surprise me. You even survived the attacks of four taichou-class shinigamis. I had truly thought you dead.”

Emboldened, Starrk found the courage to meet his gaze. “Aizen-sama? May I take Harribel-san back to Hueco Mundo? Surely Wonderweiss will finish your plan soon. She won’t survive that.”

Before he could comprehend it, Aizen was no longer standing a foot from him, but a few inches from his face. He felt a sudden and deep pain in his stomach, but didn’t dare to look away from the face smiling kindly at him, even as his legs failed him and gravity pulled on him.

“Ah Starrk, you exceeded my predictions. Yet I’m afraid your usefulness is way passed.”

Finally the pain forced him to look at his abdomen, from where Kyouka Suigetsu’s handle was unsurprisingly sticking out the blade embedded deep into his body. So the reiatsu he found on Harribel was not a mistake.

With a firm move, Aizen slashed upward, cleaving most of Starrk’s torso in two. The blade slipped away when it met the edge of his hollow hole, but continued on it’s way upward, slicing his chest in two, only stopping short at his hollow mask. As he fell, Starrk could hear exclamations coming from the Garganta, and had the presence of mind to close it before Aizen could turn his attention to them. But before he touched the ground, he felt a pair of hands enclosed his weight and stopped him before he touched the ground. As his eyes closed, he felt the force of a powerful kido enveloping him and Harribel.

A voice called out to him.

_“Starrk!”_

Then he knew no more.


	2. Chapter 2

The eyepatch symbolic of Starrk’s connection to the angry little girl, his zanpakuto, vanished like dust in the wind, which meant that the primera espada was no more a threat.

If the man had not been a hollow, and on the other side of a battlefield, Shunsui would have been interested in knowing more about them. As it was, their death was necessary, in preparation of the real battle.

Aizen was still standing above karakura town and it was time to unite with his fellow captains and hope it would be enough against such an adversary.

* * *

Judging by the effort it took to regain consciousness, their efforts were not enough. Shunsui groaned when the effort to open his eyes proved fruitless.

“Are you awake, Kyouraku-taichou?” Izuru’s voice echoed painfully all over his skull. Shunsui groaned. His head was killing him, and not from a hangover. This was a common aftereffect of his meager attempts to use kido. What had he...

Suddenly he remembered. After being defeated by Aizen, he controlled his fall to crash next to Juushiro. He remembered his friend was in a horrifying state. Even if none of the shots fired from the espada had inflicted real damage on any of them, the confrontation with that arrancar child Wonderweiss changed the situation. He took out Juushiro in one single strike.

When Shunsui rejoined the battlefield to take out the espada, he thought he could leave his friend to heal quietly, but he was wrong. Most likely Juushiro suffered one of his attacks while he was otherwise occupied, and in result he was closer to death than Shunsui found comfortable. Left with no other choice, he had tried applying the strongest healing kido he knew. Shunsui hoped his attempt was at least successful, for it had taken himself out of commission. Healing kidos were the farthest in terms of affinity from his abilities, it was no wonder it knocked him unconscious. How careless.

He finally opened his eyes to total darkness. Around him, voices were mingling in a cacophony he wasn’t up to decipher yet. But he could recognize most of them were members from the Gotei 13 . They were therefore safe.

“Unohana-taichou, Kyouraku-taichou has woken up.” Izuru’s voice called out right next to him, somber as always. He turned his head. Izuru retracted his hands and aborted the kido he was using on his shoulder. A foot away behind Izuru, Unohana was tending to a number of patients Shunsui couldn’t see from his reclined position. Seeing her calm composure put his mind at peace, and he closed his eyes again, only to be interrupted by a feeling of dread coming from his respected senpai’s direction.

“Is that so? Then Kyouraku-taichou should get up and make way for the people who actually need healing.” Retsu-senpai's voice warned him.

“Scary~ I will leave you to your patients, senpai.” Shunsui started to rise, but vertigo overwhelmed him and he only managed to sit up. He would need a minute. He stretched his neck, it was tense with pain, and he took the time to observe. The situation he woke up to was far stranger than he first thought.

Shinigamis, Vizards and hollows were all huddled on a small platform of solid reishi, in the middle of an endless black void. An alarming number of them were badly wounded and being tended to by Unohana, helped by several shinigamis. Closest to him, Izuru had already turned to the next person, who was Ukitake. His friend was still passed out, but the hole in his chest was almost closed.

The overall situation was most confusing, and Shunsui didn’t understand why everyone was just standing there, wherever this might be. “Is the fight over? Yamamoto-sempai won, I take it?” he asked, though that didn’t seem to be the case. The soutaichou wasn’t among them, but neither were any of the traitors. The atmosphere seemed wrong too, he could feel tension from everyone present.

Izuru answered him as he prepared a new kido. “We don’t know. We’ve been stuck here since before the soutaichou’s battle ended, and no one can get out…”

“If it isn’t Kyouraku-san!’ Sleeping beauty finally woke up?” his ex-fellow taichou Hirako Shinji asked him, welcoming him with one of his widest smiles. He squatted with his sword in his hand, and nudged him with the sheath.

“Not that he can do anything,” a different voice added. “With this shitty healing abilities of yours, you’re as good as the weakest recruit right now, Kyouraku.”

“Ah, Lisa-chan, as always you say the cruelest things,” Shunsui whined, though truly he was glad to be scolded once more by his former fukutaichou. How he’d missed her! “So no one knows what’s happening outside? What is this place anyway? It looks like one of Hacchi-san’s kido creations?”

“If it was Hacchi’s technique, we wouldn’t be so deep in shit. He could get us out in one second. As it is, we’ve been stuck here forever!” Shinji waved his arms dramatically before collapsing on the ground in a heap. “It’s much worse than that. We’re inside of a Garganta created by that guy.” Shinji pointed his sheath in Unohana’s direction.

The urgency of the situation had chased away the remnants of his vertigo, so Shunsui got his feet under him so he could see what Shinji was indicating.

“Coyote Starrk? I thought I killed him... What purpose could he have in trapping us here? A last resort?”

Shinji grinned at him. “Be thankful your lousy tricks didn’t manage to kill him, Kyoraku. We might be trapped here, but at least no one’s burnt to a crisp. That’s thanks to that guy. His name is Starrk, then?” he said thoughtfully.

Shunsui walked to the espada’s side. Unohana was currently tending to him. That surprised Shunsui as well. Unohana wasn’t in the habit of healing enemies, especially since the outcome of the battle was yet undecided. Various officers were being tended to by Kira and the few fukutaichous who were able to use healing kidos, but Unohana usually always prioritized her own people long before taking care of any remaining fighter.

“Yeah,” Shinji answered, bending to look at the espada from behind his back. “It was a tough situation, with almost all of us out of commission, and Yamamoto’s shikai raining hell all over the battlefield. That Starrk guy saved us all, ya know.”

What? How could the espada save anyone in the state he was in? It was no small miracle that Unohana kept him breathing, as his whole upper body was a gory, bloody mess. The killing wound Shunsui had delivered him oozed in plain sight, slashing his chest from left to right. This single injury should already be life-threatening, as Shunsui had intended it to, but it paled in comparison to the huge gash that ran through his torso, from his navel to his neck. It barely missed the hollow’s wolf skull. At the place where the two lacerations should meet was Starrk’s hollow hole. The damage looked so bad even Shunsui, used to the realities of war as he was, felt nausea rise up in his throat.

He forced it down ruthlessly. “Starrk saved us? Really? He did seem a bit reluctant when we fought, but in the end he wielded his blade with the intent to kill.”

“Yeah, that’s what Rose and Love said too, but when I met him he just offered to let us use his Garganta gate all nice and easy like that!” Shinji snapped his fingers to accentuate his point. “He even went and brought as many of our people as he could, on top of a few arrancars. No one asked him, apparently it was his own initiative. You chose the weirdest one as your opponent, Kyouraku.”

Bewildered, Shunsui crouched next to Unohana, where he could see her at work.

“That’s…” he swallowed, truly taken aback by the explanation, “That’s something I never expected from Aizen’s allies. Did he do all that in this state? That I can’t believe. He can’t even move a finger. Is he even alive?”

It was Unohana who answered. “The worst of the damage was inflicted by Aizen, when he confronted Starrk-san as he finished transporting the espada Harribel to this side.”

“Unohana-san arrived at the moment that bastard Aizen slashed into him,” Shinji continued. “It’s just the worst thing, how he has no compulsion betraying his allies left and right.”

“We were powerless to do anything, we couldn’t abandon all of the injured with Aizen so close,” added Lisa from where she was tending to an awake, but badly hurt Komamura. If memory served him right, Lisa had very few healing ability, but Komamura’s life seemed out of danger.

“You did the right thing,” Unohana added serenely. “Closed off though it is, this space is the safest at the moment. And it was thanks to your shouting, Hirako-san, that I knew to rescue this hollow.”

That seemed to cheer up Shinji. “Yeah Retsu-san, you rarely take action during the fighting, but when you do it’s something to behold!” He shoved his elbow into Shunsui’s side, in a slightly painful but familiar manner. “You should have seen her and Hacchi, Kyoraku. Aizen didn’t have time to react. She just grabbed the two espadas while Hacchi erected a shield between them, and in an instant they were all inside the Garganta with us, right before the gate closed! I could barely follow it with my eyes!”

“My! Don’t flatter me, Hirako-san. My shunpo must be very rusty since I don’t practice as I used to. It’s only thanks to Hachigen-san and his quick reaction that we could save them with no casualty,” Unohana retorted.

“And just in the nick of time too! I swear I could hear an explosion right before that door closed. I’d bet anything it was Ryuujin Jakka’s flames, maybe the explosion Starrk here warned us about. And it was coming closer too, I tell you!” exclaimed Shinji, smiling madly at Unohana, who returned it with one of her scary ones. She looked seconds away from shooing Shinji off with a stinging word. Kyouraku took care to put some distance between him and Shinji.

The trick to staying close to Unohana when she was busy with a patient was to not utter a word. And Shunsui didn’t want to move from here before he could understand what was going on. The conversation had explained most of the situation, but not all. And something in particular didn’t sit well with his principles.

“Say, Retsu-san. It’s not that I’m not grateful to Starrk here, but in his condition it might be better to let him go. He fought valiantly, there’s no need to keep him alive now if we’re going to kill him later. Why don’t you allow him to go?” It would be fair. Shunsui remembered. At the last moment before Shunsui turned away from his defeated adversary, as Starrk fell from the sky, he had seen his face, and it was at peace, maybe even relieved. In spite of the unease he had felt during the entire fight, witnessing Starrk facing his death with such serenity comforted him. And he could see the kido threads spilling from Unohana’s fingers were barely holding the deep gashes closed. The wounds should already have killed him if Unohana wasn’t there.

“If he dies, we might be stuck in this space for infinity. There is no way out, we need him to open a Garganta,” Lisa replied.

“Ah. I understand.” Their hopes of getting out were as slim as the thread that tied the dying espada to this realm. As far as Shunsui could see, Unohana managed to stabilize his condition, but since he began his observation, none of the wounds showed signs of improvement. “What about the other espadas? You brought him and one other, right senpai? It would be in their interest as well, to open a portal.”

“Hachigen-san is tending to their injuries as we speak. But there is no guarantee they will be cooperative. Starrk-san appears to be the most likely to comply, judging from his past actions.”

“I see.” Well, there was nothing for it. If Starrk woke up and helped them, Shunsui would do his best to help him according to his wishes. He had earned at least this consideration from all of them. If he survived.

But there was nothing Shunsui could do, except to stare at Starrk’s face. His figure was slack, the eyes closed as if in slumber. The blood around his mouth was dry and flaking. The expression betrayed nothing of the condition the rest of the body was in, even as, on Unohana’s forehead, a thin layer of sweat formed from the effort it took to maintain the spark of life.

Shunsui left to meet with his fellow officers, and to the vizards. It brought cheer to his soul to see them alive and well. Mashiro and Hiyori were in serious but stable condition, but they were confident they would survive, as would Rangiku and Hinamori.

Kensei, Love, and Rose were mingling among the members of the Gotei, who did their best to appear welcoming, in the face of the revelations of Aizen’s treachery and the circumstance that led to their desertion. Well. Sui-Feng was observing them distrustingly and Toushiro was ignoring them. But most seemed eager to make reparations. Shunsui found them alike the people he knew a hundred years ago, if more wary and distrustful of them. That was expected. But Shunsui was positive they would find their way back in the Gotei 13, with time.

He decided to go explore the curious space around them, though he had no doubt he wasn’t the first to search for a way out. No one followed him, which corroborated his intuition. Gliding on a reishi path, he went as far as he dared in all directions, but after a time resigned himself to their confinement.

There was nothing but darkness all around him. The emptiness was indescribable, and he had a hard time wrapping his mind around what his senses perceived. Only the path he created provided any light. Sounds behaved strangely, too. Since the silence unnerved him, he thought to amuse himself by shouting around. He was far enough that no one could hear him behaving so silly. But even that provided no comfort. There was absolutely no echo, the sounds fell flat and dull, with no obstacle to reverberate it anywhere.

He returned. Their only chance lay in the arrancars under Unohana and Hacchi’s care.

At his return, Shunsui immediately went to what could be called the ‘healing station’. It was smaller than earlier, a few shinigamis were sufficiently healed to walk away. The first person he checked on was Juushiro. His wound was already closed. The scar looked ugly and sore, but that didn’t worry Shunsui. It could be looked at at a later date, hopefully inside the walls of the Fourth. All there was left to do was hope that his attacks wouldn’t flare up in the meantime. Shunsui turned away.

A short distance away, Unohana was still working on the same patient. Shunsui could discern no obvious difference in the espada’s appearance from when he left, except that someone had wiped the blood from the torso and the face. Sadly, it only made the damage under it more visible. Guts and innards were exposed to the air, held together with various kido spells that shined and pulsed in tandem.

“Any change?” he asked, even if he didn’t hold much hope.

“I’m afraid the internal structure of a hollow is too different for most of our kido to be effective.”, Unohana answered, the usual smile on a face a tad forced. “At most, I’m able to keep the vital organs working, but even doing that much is guess work. Hollow anatomy works completely differently than a shinigami or a human’s. See, none of the organs are situated in the usual places, to make way for the hollow hole. A few organs are missing altogether, and I almost killed him when I failed to identify and attend to four unknown organs that proved to be essential. There are also a lot more bones than in a normal skeleton.”

“No one but you could have achieved even that much, Unohana-taichou!” Kira protested. “The way you’ve repurposed all of these kido spells… I’ve never seen anything like it. Your skills are unparalleled, taichou.”

“Izuru-san, I appreciate your candor, but do not let your concentration falter. Hiyori-san’s pancrea may rupture if you apply any more pressure.” Izuru hastily focused all his attention on his work, under Shinji’s furious glare and Unohana’s quiet watch.”

“These spells I improvised may not amount to anything. They are of no use if his condition does not improve.” Her voice sounded grave in it’s resignation. “I see Hachigen-san is having better luck than I. The arrancars he has taken charge of are well enough to heal their own injuries with a little push to their immune system. They may end up being our best chance”

“Indeed, Unohana-senpai,” Hacchi acknowledged with a respectful bow. “I believe the arrancar on the left is about to wake up.”

Shunsui looked up with interest. Four female hollows lay in Hacchi’s kido box. Three arrancars, and the espada who Toushirou fought. It was hard to see behind the radiance gleaming from the box. But as he approached, he caught sight of a twitching eyelid on the arrancar who wore a hollow mask with a big horn on her forehead. Soon her head began to trash from side to side, gathering the interest of most of the vizards and shinigamis, who moved closer to Hacchi’s box. Suddenly her eyes opened. They were mismatched, Shunsui noted half-mindedly.

The second she woke up, she threw herself over the blond espada with the ample breasts. “The fuck is going on!” She screamed at them. “The fuck did you do tu us, you stupid dick!” This particular injection was addressed to Hacchi, who smiled kindly at her.

“Arrancar-san, we have healed you and your companions. In exchange, we were hoping you could let us out of this place, where you are trapped alongside us. You see, we-”

“Hey”, she interrupted Hacchi sharply, “my name ain’t arrancar, you dirty bastard! And I ain’t helping you any. What have you done to Harribel-sama?!” She was shaking the shoulders of the espada under her, fruitlessly as she remained unconscious. Shunsui hoped this wouldn’t damage the injured arrancar further. They needed to get them to Mayuri’s lab alive.

“Ah, I’m afraid the espada you call Harribel has been betrayed and struck by the hand of your leader, Aizen. It was him who inflicted this wound. I am called Hachigen Ushouda, may I know how you wish to be addressed?”

Despite Hacchi’s gentle tone, the arrancar grew more agitated as she understood that the kido box used to heal them doubled as a cage, and prevented any escape. “The name’s Emilou. Apacci Emilou. But that’s all you’ll ever know, ya fool. I’m getting Harribel-sama away from you!” Energy began to gather in her hands. It felt infinitely weaker than Starrk’s ceros, but the attack was unmistakable.

“Hacchi!” He warned, just before Emilou threw herself bodily over the barrier. Her palms glowed, and as she screamed “Cero!”, she applied both hands to the prison’s wall. But nothing happened.

“It’s of no concern, Kyouraku-san,” Hacchi answered. “You see, Apacci-san is very lucky I predicted her actions and sealed all reiatsu inside this shield. Otherwise, the explosion could have taken out your comrades, Apacci-san. It is always dangerous to use explosions inside a close space, as it may rebound.”

Shinji whistled appreciatively “Well done, Hacchi-chan~” Little girls shouldn’t be allowed to play with the big guns if they don’t know how to use them safely. Now. Are you ready to hear us out?”

The arrancar only stepped back defensively, observing the wall of kidowarily. With nowhere to go she just hovered over the comatosed espada.

Shunsui saw his chance to push their advantage. “There’s nothing to fear, Emilou-san. May I call you that? If you only consent to open a Garganta out of here, Hacchi will let you out, and we can all go back to where Aizen is.”

At his words, the arrancar suddenly noticed where they were and looked around her in shock. A nasty smile formed on her lips. “Ha! So you got stuck inside a Garganta? Serves you well! How the fuck did you trap yourselves, that’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever seen!” she laughed.

It was indeed amusing, when seen this way. The thought brought a secret smile to Shunsui. “Ah, you can thank the primera espada for that, I think. He saved you, you know. When you were unconscious, he carried you here for your protection. Sadly, he is currently unable to show us the way out. But as soon as we are out, I can promise he and your comrades can be healed. Do we have a deal, Emilou-san?”

The arrancar jerked her head around as he spoke. She spotted Starrk laying prone with his guts exposed and guffawed “Wow, ya made a real number on him! Stupid bastard sure can’t take you anywhere in the kinda state you made of him. Sucks for you, idiots!”

Toshirou answered her with heartfelt resentment. “It was your buddy Aizen who took him out! It’s him who slashed open your precious Harribel too. You want to save her, right? Open the Garganta and Unohana-san will heal the wounds your own leader inflicted. She’ll be safer with us than on his side, as things stand.”

The arrancar reddened with anger at his words. “I don’t believe you, you can’t even heal the poor sucker over there,” she jerked her head in Starrk’s general direction, “Harribel-sama is better off without the likes of you!”

Shunsui noted she didn’t object to Toushirou’s accusations of Aizen’s betrayal. But she looked like a stubborn one. Convincing her could prove more time-consuming than anticipated. He disliked resorting to torture, but every minute counted. He would try again to convince her, but if she refused, cruder means would be employed. He was glad his Nanao-chan wasn’t there to witness it. The others present might find it distasteful, but they would understand the necessity of it.

“There now, our Unohana-taichou is the best healer you’ll ever meet. In her division in the Gotei , there is no one she cannot heal. Isn’t that right, Unohana-san?”

“Kyouraku is saying the truth, Apacci-san. Your anatomy may be alien to me for now, but I believe with enough time and suitable equipment, your health and that of your comrades is assured. I will find a way to heal them.”

“You’re fucking delusional if you believe that. That guy is the primera espada, and you haven’t repaired his stomach yet? Ya buncha amateurs. You understand nothing of how us hollows work, do you?” Too busy finding ways to destroy us, you shinigamis. You can’t piece us back together with your shitty techniques. They’re useless on us. If you had any kind of understanding, the primera wouldn’t be in that sad kinda state, and he’d already have killed you all as you stand.”

Shunsui winced internally. She might have a point. Apparently their methods were ineffective on hollow anatomy. He believed Unohana would prevail in the end, but Starrk’s state didn’t speak to their benefit. It was time to raise the stakes.

“Believe us or don’t, arrancar. But if you don’t help us, you’ll stay trapped here with us, and you can’t save yourself or your friends without access to your reiatsu. Cooperate and nothing will happen to those girls.”

“Like I give a damn about those leeches. They can rot for all I care. I’ll protect Harribel-sama by myself and she’ll tear you to shreds! Ya think you can stop me? I told you you don’t get a single thing about how hollows work. Ya still think we’re trapped in your little cage?” Worryingly, her demeanor had changed as Shunsui talked. Her smile was no more rebellious, but victorious. “Hey you, the one with the pink hair,” she addressed Hacchi. “You said I can’t use my reiatsu inside your little cage, right? That’s why you’ve let us unbound, ain’t it?”

In answer, Hacchi frowned. “That is right, young woman. Are you saying you know something we don’t? Would you mind sharing it?”

“Sure I’d mind! None of us owe you anything no matter what you say.” She stopped hovering over the prone espada and put her arms behind the blond woman’s head. Alarmingly, she took on a running pause. Her heels firmly planted as if she was ready to sprint any second now. Shunsui shared a worried glance with Hacchi. “But if that lazy guy Starrk really saved Harribel-sama, I’ll give you a hint. The only way a hollow’s body can heal is if he consumes a soul, or some reiatsu. But you know what a hollow don't need reiatsu for?” All of her teeth showed in a triumphant smile as she uttered her last words. “A Garganta.”

It was over before anyone could react. The arrancar made a quick zipping motion with her fingers and jumped through the Garganta that appeared inside the kido box. The espada she held vanished at the same time. The gate was large enough that the other two trapped women slipped on the other side without help. Kido constructs called on by Hacchi reached for them, but the Garganta closed as soon as it opened, cutting Hacchi’s kido with a finite sound. Shunsui lunged for the box, imitated by most of the gathered warriors, but in vain. It was already empty.

“Fuck!” Kensei raged. He kicked the box, which held strong, though now useless. Most of vizards and taichous expressed their anger in some way, but Shunsui remained immobile. Only the tightening of his chest and the blood rushing in his temples betrayed his turmoil.

“Well fuck,” he echoed Kensei softly.

In the commotion before the hollows’ departure he had stood up ready to charge. But faced with his failure, he sat down, defeated.

“Well,” he articulated. “That was just our best chance of surviving.”

His thoughts ran wild, trying to think of a contingency plan. Nothing came to mind, but as his thoughts spiraled his wrist was caught by Unohana.

“Do not despair, Kyouraku-san. Their escape was unavoidable because we lacked crucial information about hollows’ working. But the arrancar gave us a parting gift, did she not?”

Shunsui thought back to the arrancar’s last taunts. “They consume reiatsu to heal,” he realised. “Retsu-senpai, didn’t you try feeding him reiatsu?”

“I did. It was one of the first method I tried. But I estimated the danger was too high. The moment I started feeding my reiatsu to him, he started uncontrollably. His hunger was great. I had to forcibly cut off our connection or he would have devoured me.” That gave Shunsui pause, and he frowned. To devour Unohana? The mere thought was inconceivable. “The same happened whenever I attempted to touch him,” she continued. It is partly why I haven’t closed his wounds. And why I allowed no one else but I to provide for his care. It can be tricky to heal someone without feeding reiatsu to them.”

“You managed admirably.”

“That may be true, but it appears my methods were faulty, as Apacci-san pointed out.”

Hope rose in Shunsui with each of Unohana’s words. “It might be a trap,” he reasoned.

“I do not believe so. The explanation fits with my observations.”

“So you can heal him, senpai? You are the oldest and most powerful of us. Surely it will be enough to heal Aizen’s damage and mine? I can intervene if the situation requires it. I won’t let you be drained.”

“Actually, I was hoping you would volunteer, Kyouraku-san. It needs to be your spiritual energy.”

“Mine? I’m no healer.”

“I know that well. Listen to me,” she replied with a touch of impatience. “In my experience, it would be more efficient if you were the one to feed him so that my hands are free to close up his wounds and aid in his recovery even as he feeds on you. Besides, I am the most competent to know when to act if he were to consume too much of your life-energy, and how to stop the bleeding of your spirit, if it should occur. Your wounds are benign, and you are the second oldest among us. Your reiatsu pool is so vast it should give you no trouble. Do not fear. You need only give him enough to jump-start the healing process. I need only heal enough that his organs repair. The rest can be dealt with at the Fourth. Will you do it?”

“Of course. You only have to ask. I have perfect confidence that you will look over the two of us. How should I proceed, senpai?”

Unohana showed him where he should stand. “Just take his hand in yours. His reiryoku should naturally call to yours. Release your reiatsu slowly, but steadily, if you can.”

There was no time to waste. Shunsui kneeled at the hollows’ side. During their whole conversation, the man’s expression hadn’t changed, impassible and unreadable. Relaxed, his face merely asleep. His hand rested open near his thigh. After an assured nod from Unohana, he took it.

A mere second passed before his reiatsu rushed from him, sucked up with more force than Shunsui thought possible. It was as if a great gulf had opened before him, which inhaled his spiritual essence in an inescapable, uncontrolled stream. All his senses were reduced to the feeling of the hand he held, toward which his energy flew. The hand clenched his, crushing his bones, and he gasped.

He became aware of the outside world when Starrk’s body trashed. He got dragged by the hand that clenched his, almost falling over in the process. Shunsui forced his eyes to open, though he didn’t remember closing them. Starrk was curled up around his arm, gasping brokenly. Unohana was trying to force his shoulders on the ground, but the espada held on too strongly.

Unohana couldn’t heal him when he moved so much, Shunsui realised distantly. He should help her. He should catch Starrk’s shoulder and force him flat on the ground. He meant to do so, his hand shakily reached for it, but in the trashing his hand grasped Starrk’s face, over the cheek. At that moment, their eyes met and Starrk released his hand. He pushed him away, interrupting their connection. The irrepressible flow of his reiatsu stopped as suddenly as it began. Shunsui’s thoughts returned to him and he could comprehend the situation.

Starrk was still convulsing on the ground. He was holding his stomach with both hands, half crouching with his face in the ground.. He heaved in great gulps with unseeing eyes, fleeing Unohana’s hands blindly as she tried to steady him.

Shunsui rushed to help her. They grappled with the body that uncooperatively fought against them. It was hard not to harm him further. Starrk choked “Li… Lilinette…”

“It’s ok, espada-san!” Shunsui shouted, “You’re safe, we’re in your Garganta. We want to help you!”

Starrk’s eyes cleared. “In… I’m in… Lilinette… where… Lilinette!”

“Espada-san, please calm yourself. We only want to help you. We need you to get out of here,” Shunsui enthused.

A spark of intelligence shined in his gaze and his body went slack.

“Let me go.”

Shunsui released him. It was better to reason with the man, he reasoned. He was a smart sort. Unohana copied his exemple. Unsupported by Shunsui and her, the man used the hand that was holding his middle to support his weight. Shunsui grimaced. Unohana’s constructs, that held the wound close, were dissolving, letting the blood and bile spill all over the ground in a disgusting gush.

“Starrk, Unohana will heal you. Please don’t struggle,” he appealed to his good sense.

“No,” he answered as he used his free hand to trace a line starting near his head, going down as far as he could reach.

“What are you…”

One more time, he heard the sound that preceded the opening of a Garganta. Understanding, he looked at Starrk and the gate that opened under Starrk, where his fingers drew it.

Before Shunsui could catch him, Starrk caught the edge of the small Garganta he had created, and then pulled.

The ground disappeared. In its place the mouth of the Garganta opened, so huge it encompassed the whole space the group had claimed and beyond. Unsupported, Starrk plummeted. Shunsui followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was quite a bit longer than I thought, so I've added a chapter. The next one should be shorter than this one. I hope. We'll go back to Starrk's POV


	3. Chapter 3

It was not the pain from his wounds that woke him, but a call; something that felt like a tendril that tugged at his mind. The source was familiar, and that is what gave him the will to fight against the oblivion that threatened to consume him at any second. He couldn’t die yet. There was something he had to do first. His body wouldn’t move and he couldn’t wake himself up, though. He concentrated on merely staying alive.

An indefinite time later, a chance came for him, in the form of a sensation of a callused hand that grasped his palm. It shook him from the dazed contentment that protected his mind. The hand offered him enough spiritual energy to drag himself awake.

Starrk barely noticed when he came to, except from the physical suffering. That became noticeable soon. His head felt both heavy and hazy. He was so disoriented, reeling from the pain and all the movements all around him. But the numbness quickly went away, the gravity of his injuries taking precedent. It was bad. But with the bit of reiatsu he took, it would be enough. Enough to move. He had to go back.

Hands were pushing him down, but he drained more of the reiatsu and managed to roll over. He said something, his mouth forming words he himself did not know.

He felt when someone else at his back reached for his stomach, where the worst of his injuries stung. It was a vulnerable part, and already painful and cut open. The person at his back was incredibly strong. Their reiatsu felt infinitely more powerful than his currently was, and ferocious in nature. Nearly as bloodthirsty as any hollow’s. Starrk instinctively defended himself and shoved them away as best he could. But with so few reiatsu, it was barely enough for him to move about. The hand he still held offered his only means to defend himself. He curled against it, protecting both his undefended belly and the source of spiritual energy he fed from.

He opened his eyes and met those of the taichou who defeated him. The one who was currently offering his reiatsu. Ah, how panicked and uncontrolled those eyes looked. And no wonder: Starrk was draining him. He let go of the hand, releasing the man from the rapture his feeding was inducing.

The taichou tried to restrain him, but with none of the fearsome strength he displayed earlier. That was the remnants of his feeding at work. Starrk’s analytical mind concluded they must be quite desperate, risking the endless hunger of his hollow to wake him up.

The taichou was talking to him, telling him he was safe, that they needed him. Ah, yes. This sparked his memory, and suddenly he recalled everything. He knew what he had to do.

“Let me go.” And, miraculously, he was.

The Garganta he opened was small, it would barely fit him. Just in time, Starrk remembered he had to let the others out, too. Tearing apart at the mouth’s seams, he wrenched it wide, as far as it could go. The reishi construct holding him in suspension in the garganta vanished at the same time. Then he let gravity take him where he needed.

Or… Starrk realised how high up in the air the Garganta opened, that was the plan. Well, that was a bad place to open the gate at. He might have miscalculated. Looks like he was too out of it to appraise the location of the human world in comparison with the void. And, he measured the distance from him to the earth, his reiatsu was much too depleted to attempt sonido.

The wind whistled in his ears, as he saw the ground getting closer. But then it stopped.

“That was dangerous, arrancar-san. At least let us thank you before you go,” said the taichou who caught him.

“Taichou-san.” He was held in his arms. The shinigami had stopped his fall, and now they both stood in the air above fake Karakura Town. Starrk looked down, though it made him dizzy with vertigo. Whatever goal the taichou had in rescuing him from becoming a splat on the ground, he was grateful. He had miscalculated, but all was not lost. It was close.

Ah, but now he was trapped again. There was no way he could escape from the arms that saved him. A short while ago, this wouldn’t have mattered. Now… he had to try. “Please, thank me by letting me go. There is somewhere I must go.”

The taichou smiled at him, not unkindly. “You are in no condition to go anywhere, I’m afraid.“ They descended at a measured place. But not toward the place he needed.

Growing desperate, Starrk struggled in the arms that tightened around his shoulders and knees. “I don’t care. There’s a place I must go…”

The shinigami sighed. “At least let me put you on solid ground. Where is this place you must go? Hueco Mundo?”

“What? No, it’s… there.” He pointed somewhere behind the man’s back, indicating a nondescript place in the destroyed fake city.

“There?” The shinigami asked dubiously. There was only rubble.

Starrk closed his eyes, searching, sensing. “Yes. It’s there,” he confirmed.

“Hmmm.” The taichou checked their surroundings. “Well, it seems no one is paying us attention.” Starrk followed his gaze. Most shinigamis and wizards were already busy setting up healing stations on the streets below them. Others were securing their perimeters, but as far as Starrk could see, the city was empty. They all appeared occupied and paid them no mind. “This might be interesting. Let’s go before they notice us!” And off they went in a swift shunpo. To Starrk’s utter surprise, they were heading in the right direction. He didn’t peg that shinigami as such a curious sort. But he decided not to question it. As long as he went, the consequences didn’t matter.

Keeping his eyes half-closed, he seeked the particular feeling that called him. He didn’t use Pesquisa. If there was any reiatsu, he couldn’t sense it. But the call steered him unerringly. “Down. Down, I think it’s here.”

They landed on the broken roof of what used to be two buildings that had crashed together, teared apart from the different fights of the day. The flight had made him dizzy with vertigo, but with assistance from the taichou, he could walk to where he felt the call. When they were at the foot of the ruins, Starrk shrugged off the arm that held him upright. He immediately collapsed, though, to the shinigami’s dismay. No matter. There was nowhere else he wanted to be. He began to search in the debris. He was unsure where to begin, so he started with what lay at his feet. He dug fragments and pieces of buildings, throwing them aside in his hurry. Starrk cursed the weakness of his arms. At this speed, he would stay here all day... His reiryoku was so depleted he couldn’t use it to search. So it was the taichou who spotted her.

“What are you…” He mused, watching the strange display Starrk offered. Suddenly he gasped in recognition. His eyes fixed on a point buried somewhere behind the second wrecked building, beneath the roof. Starrk couldn’t see what had caught the shinigami’s attention, but there was no doubt in his mind what he must have sensed. He hurried to the building, the shinigami following close behind him. The site was a mess. The structure barely held upright and about to fall completely at any moment. Observing this with his usual calm and collected mind, Starrk concluded there was only one way to proceed safely. It would be hard on his body, but it would eliminate all of the obstacles at once.

To proceed, first he needed to locate it. “Where is it exactly, taichou-san?”

“I’m sorry, espada-san,” he looked apologetic. “She must be below this wreckage over there. There is no way we can excavate her with our bare hands, it’s too unstable. I wouldn’t be able to rescue her on time, her reiatsu is very weak.” After a second of reflection, the shinigami turned his back to him, his attention focused on the direction where the rest of the survivors were still gathered. “So stay here, I will be back with more hands,” he added as he stepped back, ready to shunpo away. It made Starrk smile. The taichou was a smart man. No doubt he understood there was no need to guard him anymore, as there was no way he would budge from here. Starrk faced the place the taichou had pointed out. Now that he knew where to focus his attention, he could finally sense her reiryoku, faint as it was.

“Ah, that’s unnecessary. I will deal with the rubble. I might use all of the reiatsu you lent me, though. Afterwards, I don’t care what happens to me, but I believe you wouldn’t hurt a child. Please take care of her. She is innocent, for a hollow.”

Shunsui turned back to him in a second, but too late to prevent Starrk from shooting a concentrated cero with the last of his forces.

It obliterated the entire building, as well as its surroundings and most of the landscape behind it. He only spared what walls maintained the structure up above the reiatsu he sensed. Finally, he could see it. The last of the spirit wolves. It was glowing feebly. There was a lot of confusion during their fight with the two Vizards. At some point, this projection must have been knocked out without triggering an explosion. Then it got trapped underneath these buildings. The wolf was so weak that it was no small miracle that Starrk managed to hear his voice, just after Aizen stabbed him.

Once done, Starrk gathered all of the strength left in his limbs. He crawled as fast as he could until he touched the wolf’s noncorporeal fur. He took no notice of the blood trailing behind him, seeping from his reopened wounds. It was unavoidable, he had used up all of the reiatsu given to him and could no longer regenerate. All that was important was curling around his other half, reforming the bound he had feared was severed. But no, it wasn’t. Lilinette was still alive. When they touched, they shared their energy, and Lilinette’s body regained its original state.

“St- Starrk…” she whispered. How sweet a sound it was, to Starrk’s ears. And it was hearing this most beloved voice, and with a smile on his face, that Starrk lost consciousness once again.

* * *

“Starrk-san? Can you hear us?” Starrk jolted awake with a shudder. He was very uncomfortable, and couldn’t seem to move to a better position. That was mildly worrying.

“His heart rate is speeding up. Starrk-san, if you can hear us, move your fingers.” Easy to say. Starrk realised he was not just uncomfortable, but aching all over his body, including in places he didn’t think possible. Moving anything at all seemed much too hard a chore, so he went back to sleep, where no pain affected him.

* * *

The next time he woke up was more bearable. Not by much, but enough that he decided to open one eye. How peculiar. This looked like no place he knew. He opened a second eye. Clear daylight lit a clean white room, spilling from an opening he couldn’t see, somewhere behind his head. His head was resting on a pillow, so this couldn’t be too bad. He missed pillows. He was also lying on a bed, a white sheet covering his body. He could sense he was still injured, but the pain felt somehow distant. The most irritating of his aches actually originated from the two tubes going down his nose. His left arm seemed to be incapacipated, but the right moved to remove them.

“Ah, Starrk-san,” a familiar voice on his right said. “Finally decided to join the land of the living? Here, let me help you.” The taichou stood up from the chair next to his bed and removed a plastic mask Starrk hadn’t noticed from his face. “How are these tubes attached?” he muttered, paying no attention to Starrk’s befuddlement. He hummed as he peeled off an adhesive band that held the tubes in place. It made Starrk wince and cough, and he grabbed the plastic tubes himself, jerking them off so he could cough in peace.

“Here. Unohana said you could have some water.”

Starrk drank as much as he could. He wasn’t thirsty, hollows never were. But the cool water appeased the burning in his throat. “Taichou-san… I take it this is Soul Society?” Starrk looked around curiously, but there wasn’t much to see. Next to the chair was a table, with what Starrk recognized as some kind of plant in a vase. On the other side of the bed were various instruments, some of them making noise. Nothing very interesting, he noted disappointingly. The most exotic object was the plant. All the white reminded him of Las Noches, and the instruments of Szayel’s lab.

He looked up at the shinigami, who answered with cheerful enthusiasm. “Yes, you are in the Fourth. This is where the injured go. And you are very injured. Don’t try to move, or Unohana will have my skin,” he added as Starrk tried to take a look down at his body. “Unohana repaired most of it, though! So you don’t need to worry. You’re in very good hands. She oversaw all of your healing herself.”

“Oh. That’s nice. I guess. Why?” If his body was healed, maybe he could stage an escape. The fact that they were brought to Soul Society was very concerning. What had happened while he was unconscious?

“You really don’t have a high opinion of us, Starrk-san. How could we abandon the savior of so many shinigamis to his wounds? Since you immediately used all of the reiatsu I so kindly offered, you could have died without the healers of the Fourth.” Starrk started to protest, but the shinigami interrupted him with a raised finger. “A-ah! You can’t be allowed to die before we can thank you. Who knows what would have happened without your intervention? I might be dead. Juushirou might be dead! Healing you is the bare minimum we can do.”

“There’s no need… I only did it because I wanted to. I didn’t think I would survive anyway…”

“Ah, yes. Shinji warned me about your suicidal tendencies. I’m sorry, but no one is allowed to die under Unohana’s care. She is very strict on this point. And Lilinette-chan told me she would chew your head off if you dared to die. I take this threat most seriously.”

So they also brought her to Soul Society? In spite of their dangerous situation, it reassured him to think she could be close. Still... “Lilinette… what have you done to her?” he asked anxiously.

That made the taichou laugh uproariously. He leaned over the bed and lifted the sheet that covered his body. “See for yourself.”

She was here! He didn’t feel her reiatsu, but she was here. Lilinette was asleep in a foetal position by his side, her arms holding onto his in a tight embrace. That explained why he couldn’t move his right side. His arm was completely asleep under her weight. A strange wetness pricked at his eyes. Like this, she seemed so much smaller than usual. She was normally so loud, she filled any room with her presence. Hot tears rolled over Starrk’s cheeks, he couldn’t restrain them, releasing all the despair he had felt since the time he called out to Lilinette with no answer.He couldn’t resist shaking her awake, he needed to hear her voice.

“What… Starrk! You’re awake!” She jumped on him, hugging his neck in her thin arms. “You idiot! You’re such an idiot! I thought you were a gonner!” His chest was killing him as a bony knee made contact with his ribs, but he couldn’t care less. Lilinette’s tears were mingling with his, staining the sheet between them.

“It’s me who thought you were a gonner,” he choked. “Lilinette, I spent hours thinking you were dead!” The thought made him hold her even tighter. “Oh, I was happy to die if you weren’t here. I almost did, you fool! A moment later, and I could have missed you were still alive… Why do you never answer? A few more minutes and you could have really died! You never, never answer when I call you!”

Lilinette snorted. “You thought I was dead for, what. A few hours? I spent days thinking you’d die, Starrk. Days!”

“And he may still die, Lilinette-san, if you continue aggravating his chest,” a new voice interjected. A woman in a taichou uniform with a long braid hanging down her front entered the room. Starrk had a feeling he already knew her, but couldn’t recall her face.

“Oh that’s right, Lilinette-chan,” the first taichou said in a panic. “We agreed you could stay if you stopped climbing on Unohana-san’s patient, didn’t we?” To Starrk’s sorrow, he lifted her up, ignoring her protests and her kicks. He sat up, ignoring the painful pangs on his torso, trying to prolong their embrace.

“I must insist you lie down, Starrk-san. Your convalescence has only started. Your decision to give all of your reiatsu to Lilinette-san certainly saved her life, but it left yourself seriously depleted. Your wounds are still healing.

“Aizen opened you up good, Starrk,” Lilinette whispered, still wriggling in an effort to escape. “You've got some big nasty cuts.”

“It is true,” the woman continued. I regret we were unable to simply transfer reiatsu to you. It would have been the easiest process, but the voracious nature of your reiryoku made the process too dangerous. There will be leftovers from your adventures,” she warned. “You shouldn’t aggravate them by moving around.”

“Sorry. I won’t move, then.” He laid back down, but the female shinigami raised the pillows behind his back so he could recline but stay seated. “Ah, thank you. Did you heal Lilinette? I was afraid for her, she was also in bad shape. I really must thank you…”

“Don’t you thank them! Starrk! They were horrible, they didn’t let me help you, they healed you with some bullshit kido techniques and that took forever!”

“Oh, that’s right. If you’re healthy now, we should share our reiatsu. That should hurry the healing. But it’s strange… I can’t feel you, Lilinette.” As he said those words, he realised he couldn’t sense anyone in the room.

“Ow!” Lilinette had just landed a good kick on the shinigami who still restrained her. He couldn’t really escape them and evade Lilinette’s furious attempts to free herself, and the pitiful display made Starrk smile. “That couldn’t be helped, Lilinette-chan. The soutaichou forbade it! And your Starrk will recuperate in no time, now that he’s awake.” Even his reiatsu was non-existent, Starrk noted. He knew by experience how vast and oppressive it felt when they fought, though. Not rivalling his own at full strength, but considerable. “Yamamoto said we couldn’t risk weakening our forces when we’re already in a vulnerable position. I’ll speak with him about easing up, now that you’re awake. You won’t try to consume anyone now, right? After all the energy you spent keeping us alive, that would be counterproductive,” he said with good humor, a wicked smile on his face despite the punishing strikes Lilinette was handing indiscriminately on every part of him she could reach.

“I’m impressed you could heal us without a reiatsu transfer. I didn’t know this was possible. How did you manage it? Lilinette, stop fighting. You won’t get away like that.”

“We did transfer reiatsu to your body. It was the only solution. But we applied a transfusion, not direct contact. It is much less effective and limited. We are in short supply with all of the other patients who needed similar treatment. Afterwards, I performed a number of surgeries myself, with input from Kurotsuchi-taichou.”

“Don’t worry, Espada-san,” the taichou interrupted between two punches from Lilinette, who hadn’t let up at all. “Kurotsuchi only acted as a consultant, we didn’t let him operate on you himself.” Starrk had no idea why he should be reassured, so he just looked at them blankly. Lilinette seemed to know who they were referring to, though.

“Oh yeah, that guy had a max creepy factor. I didn’t let him approach you, Starrk! He ran away when I tried to kick his ass. I would have done it too, if that pink shinigami bastard didn’t stop me!” Starrk highly doubted that version of events, and seeing the wince on the taichou’s face, he was right to. Lilinette had stopped struggling to cross her arms in pride, so he abstained from voicing his doubts, though. It was better not to test the shinigamis’ patience.

“The operation wasn’t without risk, considering your anatomy,” the healing woman went on as there was no interruption, “but we succeeded with only minor error. We couldn’t prevent major scarring, though. For that I apologize.”

“Don’t worry Starrk. It looks really cool! It's big, but it frames your hole real pretty. I like it, it makes you look nasty.”

Scars didn’t bother him at all. He didn’t know he could get any, but that was likely due to the unorthodox healing he received. Hollows healed by regenerating or not at all, in his experience. Which made him think. “I’m surprised, though. Could you operate on me and touch me without feeding us reiatsu? Szayel couldn’t. I hope I didn’t harm you. It seems I can’t help feeding when I am unconscious, and it can be deadly. Does it have something to do with the fact I can’t feel any reiatsu from any of you?”

“Well guessed, espada-san! It was a bit tricky, but my Nanao-chan found a solution.” His arm was grabbed and the taichou showed off an object on his wrist. “We have sealed off the reiatsu vents on your wrists.”

“It was very ingenious of Ise Nanao,” the healer specified. “The tricky part was finding where an arrancar’s vents are situated. With your curious physical structure, I was surprised to discover they are in the same place as a shinigami’s,” She ran a finger along the second object that encircled his other wrist.

“Oh, I didn’t feel it.” Starrk observed the strange items. It was a thin band that stuck to his skin, black with a white circle drawn on his pulse points. “Such flimsy material can hold off my reiatsu?” Shinigami technology was truly incredible. If only he could have possessed such an extraordinary object earlier…

“These bracelets countain your reiatsu inwards,” explained the healing taichou. “Your reiatsu is quite destructive, it attacks anyone who approaches. Lilinette-san explained it is a defensive mechanism. Quite effective. Your reiatsu first attacks indiscriminately any victim who approaches, then steals the reiatsu and consumes the soul. The collar is actually what prevents you from absorbing energy. It is a two-fold barrier.”

A collar? Starrk touched his throat. He could indeed feel an indent. His restraints were so powerful, yet so small! He wondered what kind of kido was applied to it. It would need to be truly strong to hold off his power. “Extraordinary,” he murmured. “This Ise Nanao created this to contain me? It is a remarkable feat.”

“She is a master of her craft!” the shinigami boasted.

“Stop admiring it, Starrk! If you could just absorb a few shinigamis, you’d be back on your feet in no time! And some of them look so tasty…” she leered at the taichou, who held her at arm’s length. Starrk didn’t blame him, Lilinette’s expression was truly disturbing. “Ha! Got you!” She kicked the inside of his elbow and took advantage of the taichou’s surprise to wriggle out of his hold and jump on the bed.

“Ah, be careful, Lilinette! My stomach-”

The healing taichou interrupted severely. “I think it’s time we let Starrk-san recuperate in peace. Come, Kyoraku-taichou, Lilinette-san.”

“Noooo!”

“Please, let her stay,” he pleaded. “I promise she will behave.”

“I’ll behave, I’ll behave!” Her face was red and tears threatened to spill over at any moment. “I’ll be nice, don't make me go, please!”

“Please, Unohana-san?” The taichou addedhis plea with a pitiful air. “I’ll keep an eye on them. You can count on me, I’ll guard Starrk-san’s health.”

“Very well, but Starrk-san has to sleep now. His body has a long way to go. I will see what I can do to release his seals, if only partly. Yamamoto-soutaichou should see no inconvenience in letting Lilinette-san heal you, at least,” she said before closing the door behind her.

Lilinette immediately returned to her position on his side. She put an arm on his stomach, more gently than she ever did before. “That’s good. I’m sure you can fix you up if they do that. But for now you should nap, Starrk. Apparently it helps you heal. Who would’a thought your endless napping could be useful, eh?”

“Ah, it’s true. I’m quite tired. A nap sounds nice.” Starrk’s eyelids already felt so heavy. It was strange. Even if they were in their enemy’s lair, with a former adversary guarding them, he didn’t feel threatened.

“I’ll keep watch on both of you, then. Sleep tight, espada-san.”

“ _I’ll_ keep watch on him, you good-for nothing shinigami,” Lilinette answered. But Starrk barely heard them, reassured they would both stay safe under the taichou’s cunning eye.

* * *

“It’s agreed then. You may come and go from Soul Society to Hueco Mundo, provided you inform the Communication Research Section. Hiyosu?” A tall shinigami with green skin who looked like a huge frog presented a soul cellphone. “This device will allow you to send a message to the 12th if you wish to enter Soul Society. You may not enter without informing the S.R.D.I beforehand. Once you have confirmation, you may open a Garganta inside the limits of the seireitei.”

Starrk immediately gave the cellphone to Lillinette. She knew how to use it, and she was fascinated by the snake game the people at the 12th division had added at her demand. “I will. Thank you for agreeing to our demand, Yamamoto-soutaichou.” Starrk did his best to act composed, but standing in a room with so many powerful shinigamis and that horrible old man who almost burned them all to a cinder made his hair stand on end.

“When you come to Soul Society, you will wear the bracelets limiting your powers at all time. Failure to do so will render the agreement void and you shall be attacked on sight.” Starrk winced internally. The bracelets and collar limited his powers by at least half of their capacity, but it still put him above the vast majority of the shinigamis in the seireitei. The deal lay heavily in favor of the shinigamis, but he had no choice but to agree. It was not such a bad bargain, despite Ukitake and Komamura’s indignation when the terms were first discussed. Kyoraku had kept silent though. He was the one Starrk felt closest to, but he wasn’t surprised the canny shinigami was still wary of their power.

“And we will come if you call for us,” he cut to the chase. “We will aid you if you ask for our assistance in any conflict.”

“Except if it’s against hollows! You’re on your own with them!” Lilinette added brazenly. She was right, though.

“Except in a conflict against hollows,” he acknowledged.

***

Once outside, he could breathe better. The meeting went as well as expected, but it was still nerve-wracking. Starrk’s stunt in fake Karakura Town had earned him a good deal of good-will, but this agreement was still unprecedented, and many of the shinigamis were understandingly still wary.

“Ah, my shoulders feel stiff!” Kyoraku exclaimed. “Yama-ji really took his time settling this deal we already spent weeks setting up.”

“I’m just grateful you managed to convince him at all. It’s thanks to you and Ukitake-san that we came to an accord at all. I really thought the only agreement we could come to was the term of my imprisonment.”

“Yamamoto-senpai truly believes in Shunsui, when all is said and done.” Ukitake gripped Kyoraku’s shoulder playfully. “Every now and then he gives good advice.”

“He believes in you more than me, Ukitake! If I went alone, he would have called me a foolish young pup again and thrown me on my ear,” he whined.

“That was so boooooring! I thought they’d talk forever!” Lilinette dashed ahead of their small group.”I was bored out of my mind!” She gestured grandly, throwing her arms in the air. But Starrk was inclined to let her act up, now that the audience was over.

“You did very well, Lilinette. You stayed mostly silent even when you got angry. I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“That’s because I was thinking of ice-cream with chocolate cookies every time that horrible old man looked at you wrong.”

“Ice-cream?” That was a funny thing to focus on.

“Right, Lilinette-chan,” Ukitake agreed with a chuckle. “You’ve definitely earned it. Shall we go now? I’m sure there’s a big ice-cream with your name on it in my quarters.”

“Juushiro!” Kyoraku exclaimed. “You bribed her?!” He looked both gobsmacked and admirative.

“If you had a better idea, I’m keen to hear it.”

“Hey, I deserve it! It was a lot of effort to not say what that wrinkly ass could do with his empty threats. I’ve earned that ice-cream!” She grabbed Ukitake by his haori and ran in the direction of the 13th division, Ukitake trailing behind her.

Starrk smiled at seeing her finally get along with the gentle captain. It was obvious to Starrk how Lilinette appreciated him since the beginning, but it took a lot of time for her to admit it, and to stop attacking him and messing with him. Well, she still did from time to time, but then she was Lillinette.

“So…” Kyoraku hesitated. “When will you come back? It won’t be the same without you too.”

Starrk frowned. “Come back? To your division?”

“No, I mean. You’re going to Hueco Mundo, and I was wondering if you truly will take Yama-ji on his offer to come back. I’ll keep your room in my divisionas is, pillows and all. It won’t be the same without you.”

“Do you… want us to leave for Hueco Mundo?”

“You aren’t going to? I thought… Don’t you want to go back home?”

“Ah… actually Lilinette and I thought we would impose on you a while longer. We’ve barely seen anything of Soul Society. And you said next time you would show us the bars in Rukongai. Except,” Starrk hesitated, “if you don’t want to anymore?”

“Really?” Kyoraku’s face was unusually open, betraying his eagerness.

“Yes, I mean- We can go to Hueco Mundo now if we have to, but we’d rather stay here. There isn’t much for us in over there, and we can return any time.”

“No, no! You should stay. You’re right, we went to all this trouble to get you to stay in the seireitei, and now it’s official! There is so much you have to see, I can’t wait to show you.”

“Ah,” Starrk smiled. “I can’t wait to see it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All's well that ends well! I have a few more ideas for some additionnal snippets in this universe, in Soul Society and Hueco Mundo, maybe with a little romance thrown in the mix. Tell me if anyone would be interested in reading it :)


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